Saturday, June 21, 2008

The New Mexico Society for Cosmology and Atmospheric Studies (NMSCAS) had its annual Cosmology Convention in Taos, NM this last Saturday. At the convention, they keynote presenter was Dr. Kenneth Holderman.

Dr. Holderman began his presentation by honoring the late German scientist, Cirus Rohatgi. He explained to the audience the Rohatgi Phenomenon, Dr. Rohatgi's legacy. This unique happening is characterized by orange marshmallow-shaped clouds. It was Dr. Rohatgi that discovered the link to this spectacular event and industrial pollution. He did prove that water vapor trapped within pollution above the skies of Berlin was the reason for the particular shape of the clouds and their circular order in the evening sky. Unfortunately, it was never explained why the orange coloration occurred, but Dr. Rohatgi went to his grave believing that his hypothesis of it being the result of a particular pollutant would be proven eventually.